Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore on April 24 asked a Bharatiya Janata Party leader to withdraw his anti-Christian remarks and offer an unconditional apology to the community.

The uncalled for remarks of K.S. Eshwarappa are condemn-able and highly deplorable, the archbishop said in a statement.

The BJP leader’s statement has done great harm to Christians and discredited their community’s credibility. So, he should withdraw his statement and tender an unconditional apology to the Christian community, asserted the archbishop, who is president of the Karnataka Re-gion Catholic Bishops’ Council.

Eshwarappa, a former deputy chief minister of Karnataka, on April 9 told press reporters on his election campaign trail at Bagalkot that his party intentionally avoided giving tickets to Christians.

“The Christians, like the Muslims were not given party tickets because Christians are not loyal to the country and not honest too,” the BJP leader added.